Introducing Digital Print from The Bag Broker

Introducing Digital Print from The Bag Broker

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Creating your custom designed packaging should be one of the most exciting progressions for any business.

It certainly is a moment to be proud of, having your logo and brand for all to see. However, in today’s marketing-obsessed world, and certainly in the realms of flexible food packaging, this traditional and historical marketing method is still unobtainable for many.

Up to this point, The Bag Broker has been the solution to fill the need to supply own label branding, and the quest to retain its desire only to provide products of quality continues.

At The Bag Broker, until now, we have used the professional method of rotogravure printing to service custom request customers. This method, though, is labour intensive and requires several steps to ensure the quality results we supply.

Here is the explanation why.

Rotogravure Print Process

You need to pay set-up costs, as the print drums need to be engraved and tested. The inks are liquid, and they are kept that way by using a solvent, which is heated away in a heating tunnel during printing and in a curing room for 48 hours after printing.

To make this economically viable for us, we need larger minimum orders, as it takes time and money to set up the printing machine.

Colours are mixed and adjusted by hand, and even the most delicate print’s brought into being, in a deafening cacophony of air blowers, electrical motors, wheels turning and metal banging – a noisy and hot birth indeed!

The ink used is heat stable after drying; meaning that no special care is needed if a design impinges on a valve placement, a heat-sealed seam or a zipper seal.

Moreover – for 10,000 bags – rotogravure is much more economically priced than digital. Any pouch type is also on offer.

The challenge for many is to reach the need or storage space for 10,000 bag runs, and we now have an alternative solution. We call it Digital Print.

Here’s a breakdown of the new service.

Digital Print by The Bag Broker

Digital print uses a print powder like a laser printer, although the modern printers used are a-world-away from the type of printers you and I have in our home or office. For a start, the print machine is in its specialist room, which is kept sterile to ensure no contamination and is typically attended by only one person to monitor the process.

The reality is a quite clinical environment.

There are no smells, no print drums (with their fees), and in principle, it can print out a single bag, like your home laser printer – so a custom run of one bag is, in principle, achievable with this technology.

This is in principle only, as subsequent processes mean that the smallest batch size we can work is 1,000 bags, although that is still one tenth of the minimums for rotogravure printing.

Digital Print only utilises 4-colour printing, meaning that all colours are a mix of those four colours. To make the lamination and pouch forming easier after printing, we also only offer this in some set sizes, in the side gusset and stand up pouch formats.

Digital Print competes well when compared with putting labels on bags, as it is easier and not more expensive to have a bag digitally printed as compared to applying a label.

Moreover, you get the chance to display professional printing in much smaller quantities than previously offered, which is ideal for a start-up or, for a test marketing run.

Summary

With two custom print options available, does this mean customers face a new, hard choice?

The simple answer is no.

You will be guided by two choices: Do you need volume? Do you have storage for 10,000 plus bags? If the answer is yes, then the rotogravure is the option for you. With the benefits of volume discounts available and the ability to have a wider variety of colours on your design, it is favourable.

However, if you need smaller runs for promotions, or simply do not have a need for larger volumes with or without multiple, vibrant colours – then our new digital print service could be your solution.